


Fumes

by Momjeans



Series: Brought Back [3]
Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Bullet farm, F/M, Gastown, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Politics, action to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 12:00:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7221529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Momjeans/pseuds/Momjeans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Third and final part of my Brought Back series. </p><p>"Something in Furiosa melted like lead, because she had practically been waiting for something inevitable to break, and the molten core inside of her bubbled and she's pissed. Though the absence of a lump in her throat, or ache in her lungs almost made her feel anticipation."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fumes

To enable screen reader support, press shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Z. To learn about keyboard shortcuts, press shortcut Ctrl+slash.  
98765432112345678

Furiosa rides with her bike tearing through sand. 

Blisters beneath her right hand feel like swollen cherries. The rattle of the prosthetic against her stub is wearing away skin, and it makes her think of the rubber sole of the tires being worn away by the ground under her palm. The vibration of the bike is consistent and the motor is good; no blue smoke, no sputtering or hesitation between gears. She rides in a straight line according to her compass, she rides for distance. 

Halting for water by a ridge, she reaches for her canteen and pulls down her sand starched bandana to tip water through her lips. Sun beats down onto her sweat beaded forehead and her eyes scan the horizon, looking over her shoulder at the smudge of three cities. Heat pools like crystal bodies of water along the edge of the earth and she wipes her forehead again, but with a rag this time because mothers it's too hot for life. 

It has been a long 80 days. 

Citadel is under the plot of its neighbors. Food is running dry in the heat. Furiosa does nothing but scout on her bike. Max is gone. 

She jumped her wheels the day after Toast brought news. 

\--- 

She told Capable first in a silent whisper climbing back into the gigahorse from Gastown, disguised as a friendly kiss on the cheek. Capable pretended to smile like she did not hear what she had just been told, and nearly threw up. Capable held her sister's arm tight, the whole way back and neither of them said a word. 

“Get Furiosa into the war room, now. You too” she demanded from Ace. 

Capable, toast, ace, and Polly sat at a rusted through table. Furiosa leaned up against a wall after sauntering in, and began picking sand from her prosthetic; as of doing anything but working could kill her. 

Capable was the one strong enough to bear the news first, standing up, “gastown is plotting to take the citadel with bulletfarm. They've been using our exceeded goods as bribery and they get stronger with every run we give them.” She said this simply and sternly, to be understood in no other way. 

Something in Furiosa melted like lead, because she had practically been waiting for something inevitable to break, and the molten core inside of her bubbled and she's pissed. Though the absence of a lump in her throat, or ache in her lungs almost made her feel anticipation. 

“How do we know?” She asked with no tone of surprise. 

Toast was choked up By the lack of reaction. Ace chewed his thoughts, and Ada rubbed along her calloused hands, and bit her lip. 

“I can't tell you how” Toast growled, and Furiosa cocked an eyebrow at her. “They could get killed is i exposed them” 

“A lot of people get killed, Toast” 

The girl’s knuckles cracked from clenching her fists down, because she could just hit Furiosa for being so condescending, so cold. “I know that if there were people you could have protected, you would have” 

Furiosa felt Ace’s broiling stare in her direction, and swallowed her pride. “Okay well what did they tell you?” 

Toast breathed, “bullet farm is cranking out extra ammunition, factory-lining weapons. They're even building up their rigs, though they haven't bothered to in ages. Gastown's paying them extra with our debt. They've been doing this under our noses” 

“How do we know they're doing this against us?” 

“We have to assume the worst” Polly said, growling with the experience of too many wars fought through her teeth. “We haven't had any activity in hundreds of days” 

“We’re a prime target” Ace added. 

“Anyone else know?” Furiosa routinely asked through the list of questions in presence of a threat. 

“Only us.” Toast glanced around the table, “I just received word within the hour” 

Furiosa coughed, and sat backwards on a chair, “Ace, you will announce this alongside capable two days from now. I want the boys there, and a representative from every other faction of the citadel. It is top priority that this is kept quiet. It is not spoken of outside of meetings. Gastown and Bullet Farm has to think we are blind. We won't order any extra ammunition from bullet farm, instead we salvage and ration, same goes for guzzoline. All tactics: rationing, mechanics, explosives, production, everything is not to be spoken about outside of official faction meetings.” 

Prolly shook her head and said “this castle has a way with gossip” and Furiosa rubbed her shoulder, nodding in agreement. 

“That's why we have to make this explicitly clear. We’re constantly hanging by a thread, we can't fall now.” 

Toast cut in, after noticing a missing piece “hold on, where's Max?” Silence was suspended in the air for a few moments. 

“He left, took his interceptor with him.” Furiosa spoke unaffected. 

Capable of course was infuriated,“What, he just left? Again?” 

“The boy’s feral” Polly looks at her, unsurprised “he doesn't stay put when he’s told” 

“He wasn't told” Furiosa felt compelled to say, “I told him he could leave.” And yes, she did say that, after she found him picked apart by vultures of the wasteland, she said that when he was sick and she offered him a bed, food and water. A hidden part of her regrets telling him that. Maybe he wouldn't have left. 

“Schlanger” Toast muttered. 

No. No he would have left anyways. Max wasn't meant to stay put. 

\---------- 

A warm bed is not comfortable. A good meal is not satisfying. Human touch is beyond question. 

These are things Max is okay living without. 

He is conditioned to appreciate raw lizard meat and dog food, to roll on his endless race for the next tank of guzzoline, people to get caught up with and tangled in. 

It's in the wastes where he forgets and the legend of himself can drift with the wind and he can be invisible. The feral ticks come back and the black matter comes out through his lips in mumbles to himself. His hair grows long again and he never looks at himself in his rear view mirrors. Jessie's curls of hair whip through the corner of his eye and he doesn't look over because she's not there. She's not there. 

Sleeping grants him little rest. It blurs days and nights and there are no consistent hours. Awake feels like nothing and sleep feels like forever. 

This is a convoluted, painful way of life, and Max has no problem to settle into it. 

Looking beyond an early sunrise, a dark cloud of pollution hovers over the earth, miles away from gastown’s refinery. He covers his fingers with cloth so he doesn't have to see them while hes driving. Peeling off old fabric, the fibers tear from the thick scab where Furiosa had sliced his hand. He sees his full palm again and his knuckles and his muscles spasm like they are around her neck again and his throat tightens. And he tells himself to stop, he needs to stop. That dark part of him keeps crawling back and the image flashes and dissolves into and out of his vision. Max mumbles to himself, a deep growl through his throat that warns himself to keep those thoughts at bay.


End file.
